“What?” Rogue slammed the table between them, not to intimidate or to berate his Right Hand, it was purely out of shock. Amon remained silent as Rogue tried to compose himself. “You must have refused,” Rogue continued.

“I did.”

“Good.” Rogue let out a sigh of relief. “If we had accepted such a thing then we would have tied out family to the alchemists for good.” It wasn’t just the fact that they would have tied their family to the alchemists, it would have been that the alchemists would have held far too much sway over them.

‘How ridiculous!’ Rogue sighed, rubbing his forehead. ‘To think he would offer something like that.’ The Head remained silent for a long while, trying to understand the Alchemist Guild’s play. ‘Why would they benefit from trying to tie themselves to us? Do they think they can join hands with the Black Fist family if they first get us to owe them? Or is it that they want to divide us from the main family?’

Amon understood why Rogue was thinking about the topic deeply. For a moment, his greed had almost gotten to him, but his loyalty to the family had forced its way through. Rogue was someone who had offered him the chance to become something, a Right Hand. Everyone around them had been given a chance to make something of themselves, and though they weren’t exactly living in luxury, they lived with a greater status here than at the main family.

Amon thought of the golden tree seed the Expert Alchemist had offered the family. Something like that would have taken the entire Black Hand treasury to procure. It would have increased Ami’s root to three branches from one, something which would have put her on the same level as those born in the nearby city. Such a thing would have gained the attention of the main family.

A root was something that some people were born with, and it denoted, in a small way, their potential. Those with strong, numerous roots would find it easier to cultivate, like those with strong meridians. Ami, whose meridians were all strong, with three roots, would have been someone who could match with someone like the City Lord’s daughter, someone with at least twice, perhaps thrice as many resources the young Black Hand could possibly have.

It would have changed her life for the better, and the Black Hand family would no longer be a family anyone within the town could possibly ignore. They would have been able to raise themselves to the status of a small family of a city, rather than a large family of a town.

“They didn’t seem to take our refusal to heart,” Amon said.

‘They’re alchemists,’ Rogue’s eyes said.

Amon bowed his head, understanding the sentiment. “We agreed to the second proposal they had placed. Mika will join them under their condition, and they will give us a better contract for our assistance in their field work.”

‘Mika.’ Rogue thought about the young boy who was still someone that Rogue couldn’t understand. He was sure there was something else about the boy, but he spent no time figuring out more. The winds would blow the way they blow, and he would act like a leaf.

“Your son has brought us great honour,” Rogue eventually said. “I will speak with him.”

Amon bowed his head, following the Head back to his home, where Mika and Ami were sitting, eating cheese.

“Head!” Ami said, before getting up, offering a cultivator’s greeting, and Mika followed suit.

“I have heard that you managed to pass your test,” Rogue said, reaching out with a hand before almost ruffling the boy’s head. Something told him it would have been a bad idea, so he instead placed his hand on the boy’s shoulder. “You have done well.”

“Thank you, Head,” Mika replied.

“Since you have done well, you deserve a reward,” Rogue said. “What is it that you want?”

“I would like to pick something from the treasury,” Mika replied, simply.

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Amon raised his brows in surprise, his eyes quickly turning to Rogue, who remained silent.

“If it is something the family can part with, then you can have it,” Rogue said, before nodding his head slowly.

Mika followed the Head away, though the Right Hand followed, as he had the right as both the Right Hand, and as Mika’s father, to enter the treasury. Of course, Amon would also need to advise his son on what to pick as to not waste this chance.

They made their way underground, where several of the families shadows remained, protecting the treasury from the darkness. Rogue placed a hand onto the large, metal door, before expending the ki of the family. He expended a specific amount, for a specific amount of time, and the doors opened, revealing the treasury.

It was a large treasury, full of weapons, special pills and ingredients, gems, and all manner of other trinkets. It also housed a few of the greatest martial arts the family possessed, none of which the main family cried to part with, but for the families in towns, they were more than great enough.

Rogue waited for a few seconds, before stepping inside. Too little, and the last door wouldn’t open, too late, and the hidden gate wouldn’t open. Mika followed, with his father stepping into the dimly lit treasury.

Once they were all inside the doors shut behind them, and the lights brightened to reveal all the treasures of the family, which gleamed with excitement, ready to be picked and used, to be taken away from this stuffy place.

Mika’s eyes glanced around, dismissing the pills and herbal ingredients immediately. One of them was barely passable, but they were nothing he couldn’t make within the next few years if he wanted to. His eyes scanned the weapons and armours, and he quickly dismissed them too. He ignored the trinkets and gems, before walking over to the martial art tomes.

‘This place is full of rubbish,’ Mika thought, almost exhaling through the side of his mouth. “Can I skim through the tomes?”

“You may,” Rogue said. His gut told him something was wrong with that, but he ignored it.

Mika picked up the tomes and flipped through the pages, flagrantly disrepecting the martial arts. Amon frowned, wondering if he needed to punish the boy, but he remained silent for the moment.

Once Mika had flipped through the tomes, he looked at the trinkets, the gems, the weapons, the armours, and the pills. It was the boy’s first time here, and he was going to spend a while admiring everything, an appropriate amount of time to show that he was taking this seriously, before he came to the decision he had made the moment he stepped foot into the room.

“I want to take the Soaring Death Step Art,” the boy finally said.

Rogue raised his brows in surprise. He was certain that Mika was going to pick one of the pills, or one of the herbs, perhaps even the ring in the corner, but he had picked a step art? No, it wasn’t just a step art, it was the Soaring Death Step Art, the most difficult art within the family’s treasury, and it’s greatest tome.

“Are you certain?” Rogue asked. “It is a difficult art, and with your condition, it would be more difficult to learn.”

“I’m certain, Head,” Mika said, nodding his head. ‘I suppose it’s the least worst thing here.’

Amon looked to the Head. This martial art tome was one of the top ten treasures of the family, and there was no way he was going to just give it up to a cripple boy, was he?

“Very well,” Rogue said.

They soon returned back to the family house where Mika revealed the book to Ami. “Mika, you can’t allow anyone else to learn from it. I will allow you to keep until you learn it, or someone else learns it.”

“I want Ami to learn it,” the boy said, handing the book to Ami, who smiled as she reached for it, before she paused and looked to her father and the Head.

Amon clenched his jaw, trying to calm himself from his annoyance. His son had done so well, but he had to act like a fool to embarrass himself to the Head.

“If you gift it to her, then you cannot learn it,” Rogue said.

Mika placed his hand over his fist. “I thank the Head for the opportunity, but it would be best for Ami to learn the art.”

“Very well.” Rogue bowed his head. “It was the reward you chose, so you may gift it to your sister.”

Ami pulled Mika into her arms, hugging the boy tight. “Thank you, Miki.”

Mika allowed the girl to embrace him tight, and Rogue left as the girl fed her brother cheese.

“I apologise for Mika’s behaviour,” Amon said. “He usually behaves well, but when it comes to matters like these, he is tactless.”

Rogue stopped at the gate of the Right Hand’s estate, and looked up towards the darkening sky. He could already see the moon vaguely, which was peeking through the dusk sky. His thoughts fell to Mika, who had offered his rewards to his elder sister. ‘Is it because he’s a cripple, or is it because he’s special?’

Amon watched Rogue for a while, saying nothing as the Head stared at the dusk sky.

“Thank you for following me, Amon,” Rogue said.

Amon furrowed his brows in confusion, before realising that the Head wasn’t talking as the Head, or about that particular moment. He bowed his head, and Rogue left him.

When the stars twinkled in the air, Rogue stayed outside, staring at the stars above. His heart moved in a way it hadn’t moved before, contrasting the feeling in his gut, which told him he had made a grave mistake.

He sighed, wondering if he should nip the bud, but considering that Mika had ingratiated himself with the alchemists, it would be difficult. ‘I’ll have a lot of work to do.’ He sighed.